From the Beginning
by invisibleman666
Summary: It's a known fact that lobsters fall in love and mate for life. Well... what if only one lobster falls? please review!
1. Ninth Grade: The Obsession Starts

**Ninth Grade: The Obsession Starts**

Here it was, the first day of school. Ross woke up at the sound of the alarm and rolled out of bed, stumbling towards the bathroom. Eyes half closed, he knocked into several objects before reaching his destination. With his hand, he felt around the wall for the light switch and flipped it on. Startled by the sudden brightness, for it was early morning and the sun had not yet risen, Ross blinked his eyes several times. Finally accustomed to the light, he looked up to the mirror at his reflection.

His dark hair was suffering from major bed head, sticking out in all directions. To add to his troubles, several new zits had appeared on his face, apparently overnight. Sighing at his less than perfect teenage appearance, he picked up a comb and began working on his hair.

A minute or so into his work, another light switched on. Puzzled, because no one else was usually up this early, he checked to whose room it was.

'Oh right', he remembered, 'Monica's going to the same school as me this year.'

Focusing his attention back on his hair, he had almost lifted the comb to his head when it was roughly knocked out of his hand.

"Move it, loser. I have to use the bathroom." Ross, trying to protest, only lasted a few more seconds before he was shoved into the hallway. The door slammed shut. Dejectedly, he walked back to his bedroom.

'I guess this is what it's going to be like from now on', he thought to himself as he changed into his clothes and gathered his things for school.

--------------------

"Bye Dad, see you later!" Ross called as he walked away from the car.

Lincoln High School loomed before him, hundreds of students walking through the front doors. Most of these students were traveling in small packs, excitedly chatting and catching up with each other. Observing this, Ross's feelings of being an outsider hit him like a ton of bricks.

Everyone in sight had tons of friends, whereas he was the dorky guy with a bad afro who liked to hang around the computer room. These thoughts were circling round his brain, when he heard someone to the left of him shout his name.

"Ross!" Again came the call. Ross turned in circles, trying to find the source of the noise.

Over by the trashcans, Will was waving wildly at him. Ross smiled at the sight of his only friend. Will ran towards him as fast as he could. He was blonde, with blue eyes, and the beginnings of a beard. Will would have been quite the heartthrob if not for one thing. He was fat. He had tried several times to beat his weight problem but had never been able to, and had reluctantly given up at the end of eighth grade. It was probably the main reason for his unpopularity. But Ross had no problems with it. After all, he had grown up with Monica. Now, however, Will seemed perfectly happy, greeting his friend with an enthusiastic high five.

"So man. How was your summer?" Will asked.

"It was really great. Dad put a pool in our backyard."

"Awesome, dude. I'm gonna have to try that out sometime."

Ross grinned, "Is after school too soon?"

"Not at all," Will laughed.

They'd missed each other over summer. Will had spent most of his in Washington, visiting his dad. His parents were divorced and he lived with his mom in Rhode Island during the school year. They continued to catch up with each other until the bell rang.

"See you later!" Ross called, running towards his homeroom.

---------------------

Lucky for him, when he arrived at the room, the teacher wasn't there yet. He slid into a chair in the back, noticing that some other students were missing as well, because there were still several unfilled seats. Ross, having no friends to talk to, reached into his bag and took out his book. Before he knew it, he'd become lost in the words, and was so captivated that he didn't realize the teacher had arrived.

Mrs. Hamilton was standing at the front of the class with her roll call sheet.

"Ross Geller", she stated, looking over at him, completely immersed in his book.

"Ross", she said a little louder and with a hint of anger. People turned around to look at him, still reading intently.

"ROSS!" Mrs. Hamilton shouted, and he jumped in his seat. Hastily putting his book away, he focused his attention to the front of the class.

"Glad to see you're paying attention," she glowered at him, before moving on to the next name.

Relaxing somewhat, Ross looked around and noticed that several students were still staring at him.

Directly in front of him a smiling girl quickly turned away at the sight of him staring. He hadn't had enough time to register who she was before she'd turned away. Now all he could see was her hair, hanging down behind her chair. As he gazed, suddenly mesmerized, at her long, dirty blonde hair, an unfamiliar feeling crept into the pit of his stomach. He wasn't sure why exactly, but at that moment, all he wanted was to catch another glimpse of her face. He'd never felt this way before. Just thinking of that brief interaction, he could feel himself getting redder by the second.

Meanwhile, Mrs. Hamilton continued with the roll call.

"Rachel Greene", she called out.

"Here", a hand rose from the seat in front of him and he felt his jaw drop.

The mystery girl that he'd practically fallen in love with moments ago, was his little sister's best friend, Rachel.

Rachel, who had lived down the street from him for thirteen years, and who spent as much time at his house as she did her own.

He had never seen her this way before, and something told him, this feeling wasn't going anywhere.

When the bell rang, announcing the end of homeroom, Ross was still sitting there, staring at the seat in front of him. He watched as she stood up and, not noticing in the slightest that he hadn't taken his eyes off of her all class, walked out of the room.

It took a few seconds after she'd left for him to realize that he was still sitting there, frozen. Grunting awkwardly, he swung his backpack over his shoulder and walked out of class.


	2. Break Open a Box of Cinn Fruit Toasties

**Break Open a Box of Cinnamon Fruit Toasties**

As he walked out of the room, he was still in a daze.

He looked up and down the hallway to see if she was still there. She wasn't.

Taking a deep breath, he took out his new schedule. First period was a study hall. 'Cool', he thought. 'I can just hang out till my next class.'

He went by the vending machines and paid two dollars for a small pack of cinnamon fruit toasties. They were by far his favorite snack. Although a little bummed that he had no access to a toaster, Ross opened the pack and took a bite of the first one.

Smiling slightly, he walked down the hall towards the science hallway.

With an hour to kill, he figured he could start by checking out the new wall posters in his favorite part of the building.

On his way down to the science wing, Ross peeked in at several of the classes in progress.

He recognized people that had been in some of his classes the previous year, although they probably didn't have the slightest idea of who he was.

'Maybe that's why none of them are waving back,' he mused, passing by the cafeteria.

Thoughts of his intense unpopularity lasted him all the way to his ultimate destination.

However, his mind was soon engulfed in a poster on the wall, showing the development of humans throughout the ages, and the major fossil findings up to that point.

After practically memorizing its contents, he moved further down the hallway, reading every single word on each of the posters as he went.

At the end of the hall was Mr. Pita's room.

As Ross passed it, he shot a quick look inside.

At that instant, he froze. There she was.

Sitting in the back row, obviously bored by whatever lesson was going on, was Rachel Greene.

He stared at her. He noticed the way her mouth was slightly open and how she was absentmindedly twirling a strand of hair around her finger.

He smiled, looking at her far off expression. He would give anything to know what she was thinking of.

'Probably all of her other popular friends', he thought bitterly.

And even though he usually made it a rule to hate all of the popular crowd, he had a feeling that Rachel was different.

He knew she was nice, funny, and a great friend because of all the times he had seen her at his house or from the stories Monica had told him.

'There's no way she's anything like the rest of them', he thought happily.

He lost track of how long he'd stood there, his eyes never leaving her for even a second.

It wasn't until Mr. Pita turned around and caught sight of Ross, staring through the window, that he realized what he was doing. He could tell the teacher was upset, his eyes were narrowing and his lips were pursed.

"Excuse me, class," he heard Mr. Pita say through the door.

It was then that Rachel raised her head, shaken back to reality.

Ross momentarily was rooted to the spot, staring awkwardly back at her, embarrassed beyond belief.

Then he ran.

He knew he looked stupid, speeding down the hall, with Mr. Pita glaring at his back, but he didn't really care. He just needed to avoid the possibility of having to explain exactly why he'd been pressed up against the door, drooling over the oblivious girl in the back seat.

He only stopped running when he'd turned the corner into the C wing, where the cafeteria and the auditorium were located.

Desperately needing a minute to relax, he entered the nearest bathroom. Seeing that nobody was inside, he slumped down to the floor, burying his face in his hands.

Ross could feel his heartbeat going down and sloppily wiped his sweat covered hands on his jeans.

Standing slowly back up, he shook his head vigorously.

'I have to stop thinking about her, she probably doesn't even know I exist. Or, even worse, she knows me as Monica's geeky older brother and has heard hundreds of humiliating stories about me. Anyway, the simple fact is that she would never go for a guy like me in a million years. She's the unattainable prom date, and I'm the world's biggest, or at least the school's biggest loser.'

After giving himself the quick anti-pep talk, Ross straightened up and looked in the mirror above the sink.

"Great," he remarked sarcastically, seeing, as all of his other classmates, including _her_, must have, the remains of his cinnamon snack stuck to his face.

"I really do know how to make a good impression."

Sighing heavily, Ross began to pick off the pieces of his favorite food, which at this moment, he resented more than the stealing of his "Got Milk?" expression.

When he'd finished, and his face was clean again, he walked out of the bathroom.

In his mind, the sentence, "It's never gonna happen," repeated over and over. Attempting to force himself to forget about her, these words were fighting the image of her face, smiling as she had that morning, which he just couldn't get out of his head. Finding himself unable to forget, no matter how hard he tried, he gave up. Her face took over his mind, until the slamming of a door nearby brought him back to reality.

He glanced up at a clock, only two more minutes till the bell rang.

Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out the last of his cinnamon fruit toasties. With a smile, he popped one into his mouth.

Forgetting about Rachel for a moment, he marveled at the fact that anything could be made a little bit better by breaking open a box of cinnamon fruit toasties.


	3. Would It Be Ok If I Asked You Out?

**Would it be ok if I asked you out?**

The bus pulled to a stop at the corner of the street.

Ross stood up with several others, and climbed out of the vehicle.

Stepping onto the sidewalk, he turned his head to take in his surroundings. The weather was beautiful, not too warm and a nearly cloudless sky.

He had been the first person to get off the bus, and the rest of the students living in his neighborhood were filing off behind him.

A fluttering sensation suddenly came over him, and it was a few seconds before his brain caught up with it.

Rachel was his neighbor.

It was the first day of school and he knew she couldn't have driven home because both of her parents were working.

Although, now that he thought about it, he couldn't actually remember seeing her on the bus.

But she must've been there. He probably hadn't seen her because he'd been reading his book on the ride. But she had to be there.

Any second she'd walk off the bus, smiling happily after her first day of high school.

He stood patiently, watching each person get off.

At first, he was scared that she would find him waiting there creepy.

But then, a new thought arrived, one he'd never considered, even though he'd spent the whole day thinking of nothing but Rachel.

What if he just asked her out? Would she really say no? He was an upperclassman, which was impressive, right?

And she already knew him well enough. He certainly knew her.

With these thoughts sifting through his mind, he felt his confidence build up.

He didn't have to do anything major, he could just start by walking her home. Nothing serious, just a casual, simple walk down the street.

Who knows what it could turn into.

Still waiting for her to leave the bus, he worked on his facial expression. He certainly didn't want to be gawking at her, that wouldn't help him at all.

After trying a few, he settled on what he hoped was a casual smile, with his arms hanging loosely down at his sides.

After a few seconds, he was surprised to see that the flow of people getting off the bus had stopped. He stood there, confused, trying to figure out where she was.

'Maybe she's talking to someone and the bus driver's waiting for her to finish.' Yes, that was a reasonable explanation.

Forming his mouth back into the smile he'd carefully chosen, he waited for her.

However, a moment later, he was shocked to see the doors closing and the bus pulling away. Ross stared at it as it drove off.

His shoulders slumped. The smile evaporated, and he hoisted his backpack up onto his shoulders.

Beginning his walk back home, he thought sadly about the situation.

'It was stupid to assume she'd be there, there are a million reasons for her to not to have been on the bus. She could've stayed late at school, walked home, or taken a different bus home with her friends. It's probably better that she wasn't there anyway. I probably would've just been publicly humiliated. She wouldn't want to walk home with me. What could Rachel Greene possibly see in dorky ninth grader, Ross Geller?'

And with that thought, all of the confidence he'd had only a minute previously disappeared. It was immediately replaced with his regular feeling of embarrassment at his own awkward and seemingly meaningless existence.

Now all he wanted to do was get home. It was about a five minute walk from the bus stop to his house.

The Greene residence was across the street and two houses down from his. Ross approached it, staring at the exteriors of the large, impressive home.

The Greenes, being the richest family in the neighborhood, had spent thousands of dollars, although that wasn't a lot to them, decorating the 'almost-mansion'.

The regular concrete driveways of the surrounding houses paled in comparison to their beautiful stone one. And, of course, sitting on this was a brand new black Mercedes-Benz. This was only one of the three cars they owned. The other two were presumably with Mr. and Mrs. Greene at the moment.

They had a large wrap-around porch, surrounded all the way around by a huge garden, filled with perfectly arranged flowers of every kind.

All-in-all, the house was like a palace next to the average suburban ones all around.

One he'd drawn level with the house, he heard a loud noise behind him. Turning quickly to see what it was, he saw a car racing down the street, obviously past the speed limit, with loud music blaring through the speakers.

Moving over to the side of the road, so as not to be flattened by whatever stupid teenagers were driving the car, he continued walking.

Ross heard it getting closer and closer.

When he thought it would be passing him by, he lifted his head, waiting to see it appear in front of him. But it didn't.

In fact, a moment later, he heard the music stop abruptly, and the sound of the car doors opening.

Confused and wondering who it could be, Ross stopped walking and circled back around, now facing in the direction of the car.

His stomach plummeted at the sight in front of him. A junior he recognized as Jack Tyler was getting out of the car with her.

With Rachel.

Physically unable to tear his eyes away, Ross watched as the two walked towards her front door, Jack's arm around Rachel's waist. They were both laughing as they strolled up the path to the house.

Ross was speechless. He had certainly not expected that. He observed with horror as the couple entered the house and closed the door.

For the first time in his life, he felt the sharp stab of jealousy.

"What the hell is Rachel doing?" he asked himself. 'He's a freaking junior! That's a three year difference! Jack's probably just using her!'

Allowing his jealousy to turn into anger, Ross stamped down the path to his own home. Slamming the door behind him, he ran up to his room.

Falling onto the bed, his thoughts centered in on Rachel.

He tried being pissed at her. He wanted to be pissed at her. He wanted to think she was just another idiotic slut, going out with the asshole football player. But he couldn't.

No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't be angry with her.

'It's not her fault. She just fell into the trap. Her friends are probably pressuring her and she feels like she has to live up to their standards. It's not her fault,' he repeated over and over, as his room grew steadily darker around him. He never turned the light on, and after some time, he fell asleep, his thoughts turning into dreams.

And his dreams were about one person.

Rachel.


	4. He Wishes

**He Wishes**

Taking a deep breath, he crossed the line on the floor, separating hallway and classroom. To anyone else, the dirty, barely visible indentation in the concrete floor, was non-existent. They wouldn't ever notice it, even during their entire high school experience. But to him, to Ross Geller, this line was all he'd been able to think about since he'd woken up that morning.

Walking slowly into his homeroom, he quickly scanned it to see if she'd arrived yet. She hadn't.

But there were still seven minutes left until the bell rang, signaling the start of the day. There was too much time left for him to even dare to hope that she wasn't coming. That she'd gotten sick or had decided to switch to a different homeroom.

The odds were that she was talking and hanging out with her friends before class, not wanting to be a loser who showed up early for school. That was probably what everyone was doing, seeing as there were only two people besides Ross in the classroom.

"Excuse me, young man," Ross jumped slightly and turned to face the teacher.

"Yes?" he quickly responded, not wanting to appear as if he were still daydreaming or was too stupid to understand her.

"Were you planning on taking a seat anytime soon? Or would you prefer to stand up there all day, lost in your oh-so-important teenage thoughts?"

Embarrassed at being caught thinking about Rachel by the teacher, Ross nodded and shuffled to his seat in the back of the room.

Looking for something to do, he checked his watch. Four minutes left. Breathing deeply, he leaned back in his chair, until his head made contact with the wall. This was the advantage of sitting in the back row. Slightly shifting in his seat so he could sit in the most comfortable position possible, he closed his eyes.

After a minute or so, he began to drift off. Although not yet asleep, he was lingering in a state somewhere between consciousness and unconsciousness.

As is standard of people in this level of awareness, his unimportant thoughts were extinguished. All of the meaningless crap that had been sifting through his mind disappeared.

It was almost completely empty… except for one image. The picture had not left his mind for a day now, and though he'd tried to shove it to the back of his thoughts, in this moment it was all that remained.

Of course, it was a memory of Rachel. It was the single moment from almost exactly twenty four hours ago. Her smiling face looking back at him before she turned away. He smiled widely at the thought.

Still lost in his dream, he was willing her with all his might to turn back around.

For what seemed like a couple of minutes, he stared at the person in front of him, just wishing for one look at her face.

And then it happened. She turned in her seat to face him. The dream Ross was literally grinning from ear to ear. What should he say to her? What cool opening line would show her just how smooth he really was?

He was trying intently to answer these questions when he was shaken awake.

Horrified, he realized that what he'd been dreaming of was only partly true. She was there, she was sitting in front of him, and she was facing him.

But the expression on her face was not the one she'd worn in his dream. It looked as though she was desperately trying to hold in laughter. Feeling his face grow increasingly red, he averted his eyes from her.

It was then that he realized that every single other student was looking back at him, all of them laughing.

This confused him. What was so funny? It was a little funny that he'd fallen asleep, but it wasn't enough to have all of these people rolling on the floor.

The teacher had caught on at this point and was now trying to silence the class. It only took a few moments for this to happen. They all turned towards the front and stopped staring at him, but a few were clearly holing in giggles.

When Ross was sure no one was watching him anymore, he looked down at himself, trying to find the cause of the laughter.

When he tilted his head, something fell onto his leg. It only took him a second to recognize it as drool.

He slowly brought his hand up to his mouth and chin, scared of what he would find. Letting out a soft groan, he wiped off the thick tail that had been dripping from the left side of his mouth.

Mortified that so many people, and one person in particular, had witnessed the incident, he buried his face in his hands.

For the next five minutes of homeroom, he never once glanced up to see if anyone was still laughing at him. He simply stayed frozen in that position, hiding his face from them all.

When the bell finally rang, he jumped out of his seat and practically sprinted towards the door. At this, every student in the room once again broke into a hysterical fit of laughter.

He heard someone call out, "Who woke the beast?", as he ran into the hallway.

Terrified at the sound of the words, he stopped dead in his tracks. He prayed silently that it hadn't meant what he thought it did.

Bracing himself, he looked down. There, underneath his jeans, was a horribly noticeable bulge.

Absolutely overcome with humiliation, Ross dashed into the nearest bathroom, which was a few doors down.

Seeing that no other students were there, he locked himself in one of the stalls. Sinking onto the seat, he closed his eyes, trying to make it all go away.

It was moments like this that made him hate his life, that made him want to be someone else. Nothing like this would've ever happened to anyone other than him. He'd been caught by twenty people, including a teacher, all of whom probably knew exactly what he'd been dreaming of. It wouldn't take a genius to figure it out.

He stayed there for a few moments before he had to leave for his next class. At least she wouldn't be there. He couldn't take another incident like this one. Ross was not looking forward to tomorrow's homeroom.


	5. Just the Way it Is

**Just the Way it Is**

Word spread quickly of the incident in homeroom. It seemed that, within just an hour, everyone in the school had heard about it.

This even included some of the teachers. While they weren't laughing at him like all of the students were, Ross still noticed the sympathetic gazes they directed at him in the halls.

He'd developed a system on how to avoid further embarrassment. It consisted of keeping his head down in the halls and during classes. He tried with all his might to ignore the whispers, giggling, and jokes made about him.

He hadn't spoken to a single person the whole day, hoping that it would eventually just blow over.

It hadn't blown over by lunch though, so when the bell rang at noon, Ross jumped out of his seat and headed for the cafeteria. He hoped that if he got his lunch early, he could get out of there quickly, and escape any comments that would be made either to or about him.

Fortunately, he was he first into the lunch line. He grabbed whatever disgusting meal was on the shelf, he thought it might've been meatloaf, and proceeded to the checkout. The small hispanic woman smiled at him as he punched in his ID number, and he smiled politely back at her. She was the first person he'd encountered that day who wasn't thinking about what had occurred that morning. He was thankful that at least some people couldn't care less about the high school gossip.

Picking up his tray, he walked out of the line and into the main cafeteria. People were now filtering in, but it didn't appear as though he'd been recognized yet. But that could only last so long.

A second later, someone called to him, "Hey! Where'd the anaconda go? You aren't happy to see me?"

A large group of people burst out laughing at this.

Not wasting a second to see who'd said it, Ross ran out of the cafeteria. He walked up the deserted math wing, glad to be away from his taunting classmates. Turning left into the next hallway, he saw a bathroom that seemed to be empty.

Walking towards it, he listened carefully for sounds of someone inside. Convinced that it was, in fact, clear, he entered it and went directly to the stall farthest away from the door.

Making sure to lock the door, he sat down on the toilet seat, placing his lunch tray on his lap.

A minute or so into his meal, he heard heavy footsteps approaching. Ross immediately stopped chewing, trying to be as silent as possible. A few seconds later, the person, whoever he was, entered the bathroom.

Ross hoped the guy would just go to the bathroom and leave. He definitely didn't want to be recognized. It wouldn't help his reputation at all if he was discovered eating lunch alone in a bathroom stall.

To his horror, however, the person walked over and stood directly outside Ross's stall door. Taking a deep breath and closing his eyes, Ross prepared himself for the head that would soon appear over the stall door. To his surprise, nothing happened.

"Ross?" he heard a familiar voice ask tentatively.

He breathed a sigh of relief. It was Will.

He stood up and opened the door. His friend was standing there, with a sympathetic expression on his face.

"How're you doing?" Obviously, he was referring to the morning's incident.

"You know… I've been better," Ross replied with a shrug. "It's just, it's dawning on me that I'll never have that."

Will stayed quiet for a moment. He knew that this was something Ross needed to say. When he didn't continue however, Will asked calmly, "Have what?"

"You know, it's like, I'll always be on this level, and she'll always be three steps up. I just hate knowing that there are so many things I can't have. Just because I'm not on the football team, I can't have the cheerleader. It's like my status is fixed for life, and there's nothing I can do to change it."

Ross stopped speaking, waiting for his friend to respond. After a second or two, Will replied.

"Yeah, I know exactly what you mean. This is high school. I only have one friend, and the only reason I'm a loser is because I'm fat. No one takes the time to listen to me to see if there's anything more. But Ross, it's not gonna be like this forever. After high school's over and we get out of here, no one will care about any of this crap. We've just gotta get through the next four years."

"Yeah, four years. No time at all," Ross replied sarcastically.

"Hey, at least we've got each other," Will said with a small smile.

"Yeah," Ross muttered, "thanks man."

"No problem," Will reached over and took Ross's lunch tray. Thinking for a moment, he picked up Ross's cookie and began eating it.

Through a mouthful of food, he said, "Now lets get out of here. I can't be seen with someone who eats lunch alone in the bathroom. It'll ruin my reputation."

Glad that his friend was there, Ross led the way out of the bathroom. But he didn't go back to the cafeteria. He didn't want to return to the place where everyone would surely make fun of him. Instead, he walked towards the school exit, with Will trailing close behind.

Once they'd gotten outside they could see the large green lawn that spread all around the school building. Across the lawn to the right was the parking lot. However, across the lawn to the left was a small forest.

Ross headed towards the first line of trees, smiling as he breathed in the fresh air. Just inside the forest, but still within sight of the school, was a small circular clearing. Inside the circle of trees, the ground was covered with uncut, green grass and several large rocks were scattered around as well.

Ross and Will plopped down onto the spongy, cushioning grass, and leaned up against the two largest rocks.

Here they stayed for the rest of the lunch hour, eating and laughing, both glad that they had someone there with them. They didn't need all of the popular kids to like them. They each had one real friend, and that was infinitely better than a hundred fake ones.

* * *

Ross settled down into his seat in the back for the last class of the day. This was the class he'd been looking forward to most since the start of school, science.

Right when the bell rang, five girls entered the room.

One of them was Rachel.

Ross granted himself one look at her face, and then looked back down at his desk.

She sat far away from him, with all of her many popular friends. This was how it was going to be for the next four years. She'd sit with her friends, he'd sit alone. He knew he'd never stop loving her, but he would have to be content to admire from afar. It was just the way it was.


End file.
